The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1887-02-17

Is the beautiful wife of ex-senator
George e. Spencer, of Alabama Her
maiden name was May Nunex, but
there is . charming little family ro-
nance lurking behind the "May."
She gave her hand to the Senator
from Alabama in 1877 at the church
of st. Barnard, in Washington, where
he placed $4,000 ring upon her fir
ger. Then they left for Deadwood,
where he has large mining interests to
watch, and where the lady has devel-
oped in recent years into a strikingly
strong novelist of frontier character.
{ But the story about her being of
unmixed Portuguese pedigree is all
wrong. Her mother came of good
old North Carolina stock. Her maid
en- name was Loring, and the romance
begins when we change this name to
Nunez. The brothers of Mrs. Nunez
were both conspicuous figures in the
old North State in their time. Themas
the elder, was founder of the Whining
ton Herald seventy years ago, and
died, after a busy and useful career,
shortly after the war. The younger
brother, William, and his sisters ia
vorite, was a cavalier of the old re-
gime, happiest in the midst of danger
excessively fond Of the ladies in gener-
al and his sister in particular. On
one of his trips to friends in North
Carolina Mr.. Nunez, Portuguese by
birth, met and won this admirable
Miss Loring,i and carried her away in
triumph to set off the beauty Of his
orange groves in Florida, where he
had large possessions and ducats gal
ore.
Thu was about the time the Mexi-
can war broke out. VIM Loring, the
brother to whom the new bride was so
much attached, caught the Montezu-
man fever and enlisted. Whatever
hardships he had to encounter were
mitigated by the sisters promise that
the first child should be named for
him. Alas! man proposes, but, much
to his disappointment, the child was
one of the kind that " doesn't count, J"
as Mr.. Dombey remarked Of Flor
ence.
Uncle William recovered from the
shock and fought ahead under hope.
There were soon symptoms that the
cherished wish of his heart was final
ly to be gratifeu, and under this
cheerful impression he fought so gal
lantly at the storming of Monterey
that they pinned Iasmajor's epaulettes
to his shoulders. After all this glori-
Gus effort to leave a name which any
youngster might feel proud to bear,
you can imagine the majors shock
when he heard that number two was
a girl. All this had tendency to
shake the mans faith in the equities
of creation.
The major made up his mind that
he could not afford to keep on march
ing into the commons mouth all his
life on probabilities, and so held his
sister to her promise, that "the next
one should be named for him. And
named it was. Twenty five years
later, when the minister called her
May" at the alter, as he bestowed
her hand on George Spencer, she cor
rected with the remark that she had
been christened William Loring"
May" then was simply short for
Major, as William or Bill would have
been altogether de trop. Out of re.
gard for the youngsters beauty, the
fond old warrior grew to idolize his
namesake, and as she developed into
dashing and lovable girlhood he made
her his special companion and pro
tege. He not only superintendent hel
| education, but took her on long ram
bles through the Orient and his par.
ticular weakness, the Holy Land
| which he loved for its stirring mem
| cries of the crusades. He acted, in.
deed, as if she did count, despite that
little disappointment of some years
back.
Another niece of the Generals mar
ried gentleman named Moran, ant
during the years '65, '66, and 81
they ran quite tony boarding. house
in Clinton place, New York, which
became favorite resort for Virgins
and North Carolina families who Wis
tied that city. It was there that the
two Nunez sisters (the elder of whom
later married Mr.. Reed, and Sena
tor Spencer's present wife, made
themselves invaluable as dazzling en-
tertainers. The sisters rendered duet
with great power and sweetness
elder singing a strong, clear contralt'
to the MAJORS" soprano. And Mis-
May, through travel and study, wa
accomplished in numerous ways.
Take tall, graceful figure, hand
some manners, lovely brunette fea
lures and wealth Of glorious blacl
hair, and add to these a ready com
mand of Spanish, French and Portu
gese, and you have "a combination
and form indeed" They do sa.
| 4Ln4 :, numb ar Of tho Visitors mar